2010-07-30

I decided to test the "offline play" feature of Starcraft 2 (for the single player campaign); so I unplugged my network cable and launched the game.

I was met with the "Can't connect to Battle.Net" message and was asked if I wanted to play offline. I clicked the "Play Offline" button and was taken to the login menu.

When I tried to login with my battle.net account name, I was met with a "You must log in to battle.net first and acitvate your game, then connect at least once with that account..." message.

This made no sense to me, as I'd already connected with the same account on two different computers and had their "cloud" functionality let me continue where I'd left off on the other computer. So I know the connection they were talking about had already been made.

Turns out there is a defect in the product as of this writing, where you have to click "Play as Guest" while connected to the internet and click to activate one of the Guest accounts first to get offline play enabled (for both Guests and your battle.net account.)

Note, you don't have to actually start the campaign on the Guest account, but simply getting to the in-game menu with that "profile" seems to activate the offline play ability.

So, to get the Starcraft 2 Offline Play enabled for the single player campaign:

Launch Starcraft 2 with a working connection to the internet.

At the login menu, click "Play as Guest"

Click on one of the Guest profiles (I did Guest 1)

Once in the menu that allows you to "Start Campaign", you can exit the game

Disable your internet connection.

Launch Starcraft 2 without internet

Login with your battle.net account or Play as Guest (offline mode should be enabled now)

Now I don't know if you actually have to click into one of the Guest profiles, or if you can simply click "Play as Guest" and be good. If someone has tried it without actually going into one of the Guest Profiles, please post a comment here to let everyone know.

I still wish Blizzard would give us LAN play without an internet connection... here's to wishful thinking! It's a killer game otherwise... I'm loving the Single Player campaign.